The author of The Hunting Party and The Guest List, Lucy Foley is back with another gripping, nail biting thriller. This time, it’s midsummer on the Dorset coast, and a champagne-fuelled party at a brand new hotel turns deadly. The Midnight Feast is out today (6 June 2024; £18.99), and here Lucy shares the British countryside hotels she took inspiration from when writing.
A luxury countryside hotel in an isolated setting. Nothing and nobody for miles except your fellow guests. Space and silence. Dream come true or horror-filled worst nightmare? I wanted it to feel a little of both in my new murder mystery, The Midnight Feast, which takes place at a fictional new retreat called The Manor on the Dorset coast.
It was inspired by previous stays at wonderful rural hotels and a few necessary trips for research, and I hope it feels authentic and somewhere readers might really want to stay: from the spa in the orangery to the ‘woodland hutches’ with outdoor roll top baths, to the signature cocktails served in a bougied-up woodland glade, the architectural feat of a swimming pool perched atop the cliffs. But I also had great fun using the setting for an increasing sense of claustrophobia and isolation as tensions and temperatures (the action takes place at midsummer and during a heatwave) start to rise and some unexpected guests come to stay.
I should make it clear, though, that I am probably at my very happiest and most zen while on a staycation at a British countryside hotel. For me, it’s all about rambling walks in the local countryside to return to hot baths and fireside reading in winter, or in the summer to sip a cocktail in the evening sun overlooking an emerald lawn – with the odd massage thrown in for good measure. It was an absolute pleasure to take inspiration from some of the UK’s top spots – I can’t pretend that this was one of my more arduous assignments as a writer – and if you’re looking for a sumptuous rural stay I can highly recommend checking in to the following.
The Pig – in the South Downs, Madehurst
This is fairly near to where I live and has the most glorious setting, with sweeping Downland views and its own vineyard, a stunning walled garden and the loveliest staff who have been so welcoming when I’ve turned up to scribble away in my notebook over a pot of tea in the sumptuous bar area. When very pregnant this time last year and trying to finish a novel before the baby came (spoiler alert: this didn’t happen), I lumbered over to the treatment sheds for transportingly wonderful mum-to-be massages.
I love the way this country house hotel somehow manages to combine exceptional luxury with a true earthiness – due in large part, I’m sure, to the beautiful working gardens that you can also explore as a day visitor. I also love how The Newt embraces seasonality and all things folk and pagan – a big theme in The Midnight Feast – which has included building and burning their own wicker man-esque creation in the past.
Part of the Soho House group but you can stay as a non-member, this glorious retreat is situated in a Georgian Manor in the midst of lush Somerset countryside. I treated myself to a solo writing weekend there last year (I promise most of my writing life is spent hunched over my messy desk at home surrounded by children’s toys), woke myself up every morning with a swim in the indoor and outdoor pools and puzzled out scenes while wandering the beautiful grounds, which lead straight into open countryside.
The new byword in rural luxury, this Oxfordshire stay (both hotel and members’ club) in a majestic Jacobethan Hall has a Roman Baths inspired spa complex, four poster beds galore, and is surrounded by over 3,000 acres of sweeping parkland. I promise it didn’t inspire my fictional hotel’s name: it’s so new that it didn’t even exist when I started writing and apparently after you return from a Cotswolds ramble you will soon be able to re-groom any windswept locks in the forthcoming George Northwood salon. There’s also lots of potential for bacchanalian revelry here, promised by the three members’ social spaces, poolside bar and dazzling line up of previous events.
Estelle Manor, Eynsham, North Leigh, Park OX29 6PN
